


Snapshots When Time Stopped

by turps



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2013-11-02
Packaged: 2017-12-31 06:32:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turps/pseuds/turps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for no_tags 2013.</p>
<p>For the prompt <em>Mikey/Pete -- a happy ending?</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots When Time Stopped

**Author's Note:**

> Contains mentions of Mikey/Alicia and Pete/Ashlee
> 
> Huge thanks go to themoononastick for beta reading.

As with most things: it’s all Pete’s fault.

Patrick’s cold and tired and all he wants to do is get on the bus, but he’s hesitating, wondering about what he’ll see once inside. It didn’t used to be like this, Patrick’s spent years living in close-quarters with other guys -- with Pete and Dirty even, who, together, cause a chaos un-proportional to the space they actually inhabit.

Patrick’s learned to live alongside piles of rancid clothes. To hold his breath through the smog of weed, to scrape out a breakfast from mouldy bread and crushed Cheetos while various hung-over, and often half-naked people emerged groaning from the bunks. He’s even mastered the interested look needed when Andy launches into yet another of his crusades. But this…..

It’s not that Patrick’s a prude. He doesn’t care that Pete’s suddenly dating a guy, even if that does come with countless involved conversations about labels, and Pete’s latest Googled research. Which Patrick tries to ignore. He loves Pete, but there’s a limit to what he needs to know, and that stops at Pete wondering how many fingers he can take using spit as lube.

So yeah. Patrick’s open-minded. Hell, he’d even channel his inner Debbie Novotyn and wear the _I love my gay best friend_ t-shirt he’d jokingly threatened Pete with if Pete had looked remotely genuinely interested at all. It’s just, as supportive as he is, Patrick doesn’t want to be a side character in a summer of gay porn.

“Have you forgotten the code? You’re not supposed to forget the code. You’re Patrick. You don’t forget the code.”

At the sound of Joe’s voice, Patrick turns, watching him walk close, Joe’s steps deliberate and grin wide as he opens his arms and looks down at the ground.

“There’s jewels on the grass, can you see them?” Joe asks, stumbling a little as he toes at the grass. “Millions of jewels. Thousands of the fuckers.”

Patrick looks down too, but as much as he wants to, all he can see is the waterlogged grass that’s soaking his sneakers and hems of his jeans. Ignoring Joe’s protest, Patrick presses the toe of his sneakers into the soggy ground, no doubt obliterating multiple jewels in the process. “I know the code. But I think Pete’s in there with Mikey.”

“Ah.” Joe drags out the word, elongated and trailing off in a whisper before he abruptly runs forward, jumping so he can bang on the side of the bus while yelling, “Are you fuckers inside having sex?”

“Subtle, Joe,” Patrick says, and more than anything is glad that Joe stuck to yelling about sex. Not that Pete and Mikey’s relationship is any kind of a secret, but there’s a difference between a secret that’s known and protected by the tour insiders and one that’s yelled out loud by a baked band member in the dead of the night.

“There’s no sex allowed on the bus,” Joe says, and somehow, despite stopping once to marvel at the magnificence of his fingers, manages to correctly input the right code to the door. “It’s the rule.”

“Yeah, it is,” Patrick agrees, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a rule that’s been flouted. Several times in fact, in ways that would make Patrick blush if years worth of friendship with Pete hadn’t eroded his ability to do so.

Joe pulls himself up onto the first step of the bus and looks over his shoulder, his smile wide. “Sex is awesome. I love sex. We should change the rule.”

“No we shouldn’t.” That’s something Patrick knows for sure, and he listens, trying to make out any suspicious sexual sounds over Joe’s barely contained giggles. “Sex on the bus makes things weird.”

“You’re weird,” Joe says instantly, and then, “Pete’s weird. Hi Pete.”

His suspicions realized, Patrick steels himself and follows Joe onto the bus, hoping the lack of further comments means this time, brain bleach isn’t needed -- and it isn’t. Except in the way it really, really is, just in a new way.

Because, while both Mikey and Pete are both dressed, over dressed in Mikey’s case when he’s visibly sweating under his hoodie, Patrick’s looking at something so intimate that he feels like some kind of voyeur. There’s no way he can’t feel that way when Pete’s got his head tucked against Mikey’s shoulder, his cheeks flushed and mouth wet. When Pete’s got his legs resting over Mikey’s thighs and his hand on his stomach, the tips of his fingers pressed under the waistband and belt of his pants.

It’s intimacy there in the way Mikey’s hair is fucked up, any resemblance of style gone and how he’s curled around Pete, fitting together in a position that’s both awkward and right.

It’s there when Pete says, “Hey, we stole chips from the catering tent, want to share?” and means it, easily dividing his attention except for the part of himself that he keeps solely for Mikey. The glanced look, the small smile as they break apart and make room for Patrick and Joe.

“Sure,” Patrick says as he sits, making sure to avoid any suspicious wet spots, and for the first time, realizes, that there’s a possibility he’s been watching more than a fling.

\-----

That the relationship lasted isn’t a surprise.

Despite the bad times -- and there were many, when the newly created distance and separation left Pete raw and exposed -- Patrick knows Pete. He knows how he’ll fight for those that he loves, and how over the summer, Pete came to love Mikey, as a friend at first, but then more.

On paper it shouldn’t make sense, and honestly, sometimes Patrick looks at what they’ve created and wonders how it’s ever enough. Pete’s got a big heart, with enough love and attention to share with all of his wide circle of friends. But at the same time, he needs to be loved too, by his friends, but also by someone who loves him unconditionally and with all of their heart -- and that’s what he’s got with Mikey.

Instead of drifting apart at the end of the summer, somehow they’ve become closer. Texts and calls and emails that make Pete grin, visibly relaxing as he tilts the screen so Patrick can see linked video clips of cats playing a piano, or snippets of text about what Mikey’s doing that day -- and that includes time spent with Alicia.

It’s the one thing about them that worries Patrick, that no matter how often Pete’s said he’s okay with sharing Mikey’s affection, it’s an acceptance based on Pete clinging on, compromising in a way that at times, looks one-sided.

Not that Pete agrees in the slightest, and for every doubt that Patrick holds, they’re swept aside by moments like this.

“Five minutes, it would be impressive if it wasn’t so sickening,” Joe says, checking his watch yet again. “Much longer and I’m going to throw a bottle of water over them.”

Andy looks up from his book, says, “Keep that for if they start making out again. I’ve already been scarred enough tonight.”

Never looking away from Mikey, Pete brings up his hand, flipping Andy off from behind his back.

“I bet you’re regretting agreeing he could play now,” Alicia says, her hair tickling Patrick’s face as she leans in close, her look fond as she watches Mikey and Pete. “Mikey’s missed him.”

“I can see that.” And Patrick can, it’s obvious in the way Mikey’s holding on. His hands against Pete’s back, pulling him close as they keep looking at each other, as if neither can fully believe the other is there. It’s something that’s adorable, and would be slightly sickening if it wasn’t for the fact that, right at this moment, Pete is radiating happiness, as if a part of his life has just clicked into place. In fact, as reunions go it’s one that’s perfect except for one thing, and Patrick can’t help asking, “You don’t mind?”

“Mikey and Pete being together?” Alicia hesitates after the question, never looking away from Mikey and Pete, and then says, “I love them both, and they had each other first.”

“Not by long.” At least, Patrick doesn’t think so, Mikey and Alicia getting together blending with the chaos and painful feelings after the end of the summer. “And you didn’t answer the question.”

It’s pushing, but Patrick still has to ask; poking at potential issues is part of his role of protecting Pete the best that he can. His attention solely on Alicia, Patrick takes everything in, the change in her expression, how she’s obviously searching for the right words.

“No, I didn’t,” Alica admits, and then, “Sometimes I did mind at first. Hell, if we lived any kind of a normal life maybe I still would. But we don’t. I love Mikey, and he loves Pete. That’s nothing in this fucked up business.”

Patrick takes in what she’s saying, picking over the words which on the surface sound okay, but on a deeper level aren’t at all. “So you’re saying that you’re okay with sharing because you don’t live a so-called normal life and want them to be happy?”

“Partially.” Her attention pulled away from Mikey and Pete, Alicia looks directly at Patrick. “I’m not a saint, I love Mikey but I wouldn’t do something I didn’t like just to make him happy.”

“Good,” Patrick says, something inside relaxing when, finally, he can start to fully believe the relationship Mikey, Alicia and Pete are in, is one fully supported on all sides. “You should be happy.”

“Oh, I am.” Alicia leans in closer, her eyes gleaming and smile wide as she adds, “Look at them. I get to be a part of that.”

Patrick looks, taking in the way Pete’s got his hand fisted in the back of Mikey’s coat, how Mikey’s dipped his head so his forehead’s brushing Pete’s. How, despite being in the middle of a crowded and busy room, right now no one else matters.

And yeah, Patrick has to admit, as unorthodox as this relationship is, it appears to be working.

\-----

Patrick gets all of a few moments warning before Pete pounces, holding on, his arms around Patrick’s neck as he says, “Patrick. You need to go on the bounce house with me.”

Pete’s breath hot against the side of his face, Patrick instinctively reaches up, his hand on Pete’s clasped arms. “I’m too old for bounce houses. I’ll break a hip.”

“You’re younger than me,” Pete says, laughing as he tightens his hold. “I’m ancient, practically prehistoric.”

“Of course you are,” Patrick agrees, enjoying the way Pete laughs more in response. “So prehistoric you know how to juggle a kid, a hot wife and a hot rockstar boyfriend.”

“With great years come great wisdom,” Pete says solemnly, and then adds, “And great sex.”

“I don’t want to know.” Patrick starts walking, his steps shortened to allow for Pete, who’s still clinging on. “I’ve told you before. I’m a Pete sex information free zone.”

“Even on my birthday?” Pete asks, sealing the question with a loud and smacking kiss against Patrick’s cheek. “You should be nice to me on my birthday.”

Patrick turns his head slightly, looking to the side so he can just see the turned up corner of Pete’s mouth. “I’m always nice to you. If you want extra nice go and see Mikey. He’s just arrived.”

“He has?” Instantly, Pete pulls back, and Patrick would feel jealous, except that Pete sounds delighted, unable to stand still as he pushes himself up on his tiptoes and looks over the crowd filling the room. “I can’t see him.”

“If you’re looking for Mikey and Alicia, they’ve gone to put your gift in the kitchen,” Ashlee says, moving close and laughing when Pete responds by grabbing her in a tight hug and then hurries away with a hasty _thanks_ said over his shoulder. “I think he’s eager to see Mikey.”

“It’s been a while,” and in fact, if pushed, due to recent discussions with Pete, Patrick could say exactly how long that it has been, down to hours and days. It’s just, as much as he likes Ashlee, they’re not close enough that Patrick feels comfortable discussing the details of Pete’s relationship with Mikey, even if it’s something that’s been solid for years.

Ashlee slips her arm through Patrick’s and starts walking, heading for the kitchen and Pete. “Pete’s missed him. I caught him watching a My Chemical Romance special on MTV last week. He was singing Bronx all of the songs.”

It’s something Patrick can easily imagine, which is testament to how long this relationship has been going on now. That Pete singing My Chem’s songs to his young son is something that feels right. Of course, it helps that Ashlee’s so understanding, and yet again, Patrick’s grateful Pete’s managed to find people who love him so much.

“I don’t think Gerard’s got anything to worry about, though,” Ashlee says, her mouth curled up into a smile. “Pete’s not really lead singer material.”

“Lead screamer, maybe,” Patrick says, Ashlee one of the few people with who he’ll poke gentle fun. “Hopefully Bronx’s first word isn’t vampire.”

Ashlee mock shudders. “Don’t even tempt fate. I’ve visions of Bronx eventually telling mom he’s not oh fucking kay.”

“That’ll be one for the Simpson family book,” Patrick says, grinning as he imagines an older Bronx dropping the F bomb to his grandma.

“You know it.” Ashlee slows and stops walking when they approach the kitchen, watching as Pete all but runs into Mikey’s arms, making him stagger backwards and hit the counter with a dull thud. “He’s like an excitable puppy, sometimes.”

Patrick has to agree, even though now, Pete’s much calmer than he was years before. It’s a side of Pete Patrick likes seeing, how while he’s obviously matured his love of life is readily apparent. Like now when he’s all but climbing up Mikey, making him laugh as they exchange a first public chaste kiss.

“I can’t believe I nearly ruined that,” Ashlee says, her arm tight around Patrick’s as the tone of their conversation turns from joking to serious, her voice lowered as she adds, “They nearly split up due to me.”

“Sharing isn’t for everyone.” Truthfully, it isn’t for Patrick either, no matter how much Mikey and Pete’s relationship seems to make sense. “No one would have blamed you for saying stop.”

“Pete would,” Ashlee says, and keeps talking when Patrick tries to protest. “No, I know that he would have said it’s okay and stopped seeing Mikey. That he loves me and Bronx, but he loves Mikey, too. Who am I to take that away?”

The simple answer to that is, Ashlee’s Pete’s wife, someone who’s got every right to say no. But Patrick won’t say that. He can’t when he knows Pete, someone who’s living his life the best that he can in a world that’s never been all black or white.

“I need to go check on the cake,” Ashlee says, pulling away from Patrick with a sudden wide, bright, camera ready smile. “Try and keep Pete from slipping away.”

“I’ll try,” Patrick promises, though isn’t sure if he’ll actually succeed. Not when, already, Pete’s got his hand on Mikey’s hip, touch casual intimate as he whispers in his ear, sharing some secret that makes Mikey laugh in response.

When as always they’ve clicked together in an instant, the weeks they’ve been apart already forgotten.

\------

If he’s honest, Patrick never expected to do this again.

Too many things had happened, too much water under the bridge -- too much everything that had left them all burned out, exhausted and unable to go on. At a point where even long-term friendships were in imminent danger.

No matter how much it had hurt, they’d needed a break. Time to rejuvenate and become individuals again, and not just the members of Fall Out Boy. A collective who’d been stuck in the same perceived roles for such a big part of their lives.

Now, years later, and Patrick feels great. The same person he was before, but better, confidence brimming after doing his own thing and with the knowledge he looks and feels good. He’s got his new wife, is making music he loves, and most of all, is surrounded by friends, with bonds that weren’t actually broken by the hiatus but changed and made stronger.

Patrick’s lucky, he knows that, and part of that luck is still being best friends with Pete. It’s not in the same way as before, it can’t be, both have changed over the years. Pete’s been married and divorced and has a kid who’s become the center of his world, but his friendship with Patrick has held on. Tenuous at times, sure, but they’re past all of that now.

Now they’re as close as before. Patrick singing Pete’s words to the roar of the crowd, beaming as Pete hangs out over the audience, joy apparent as he drinks in their love and attention. It’s something Pete needs -- has always needed

Like now, when the show is long over, and Pete’s hanging backstage. Buzzed still and happy as he stands close to Mikey, talking about something that makes them both grin.

It’s something that Patrick still likes to see, something that proves that, no matter how unconventional, some relationships are meant to succeed.

“We were fucking fantastic tonight,” Joe says, draping himself over Patrick. It’s something he’s said repeatedly now, but that doesn’t matter. They were fantastic -- _fucking_ fantastic, and Patrick basks in that knowledge.

“We should do it again, sometime.” Patrick says, grinning wide as Joe pretends to consider.

“Fuck yeah, how about tomorrow?” Still leaning heavily against Patrick, Joe keeps looking toward Pete and Mikey, watching as they talk, caught up in their own little world, and then says, more seriously than before, “It’s been forever, I never thought they’d make it this long.”

“It’s been a long summer fling,” Patrick agrees, and remembers back to the start of that summer. With the long hot days and two men who found each other and then held on, through good times and bad. It’s a relationship that shouldn’t have worked, and, Patrick suspects, has come close to falling apart at times, but it never has. Instead they’ve remained PeteandMikey, a couple who’ve remained committed even if it’s in ways some can’t understand.

“Lucky bastards,” Joe says, pushing away from Patrick when Mikey and Pete get closer together, as if unable to stop touching in even this most casual of ways.

“Yeah,” Patrick says, even though he knows, while some luck is involved, there’s also been a lot of talking with significant others, negotiating and hanging in when things got tough. “I should go say hello to Mikey.”

Joe takes a step back, already looking for the next person to talk to and enthuse over the show. “Go, join in the love fest. Pretend vomit for me.”

“I’ll do that,” Patrick says, amused when Joe mimes throwing up. “But everyone knows you’re jealous, really.”

“I could land myself a hot rockstar boyfriend if I wanted,” Joe says, affecting a pose, which Patrick suspects is supposed to be seductive, but in reality makes Joe appear like some sexdoll reject.

“Of course you can.” Making no attempt to hide his smile, Patrick weaves through the crowd toward Pete and Mikey, unable to stop his smile widening when Pete beams when he sees Patrick approaching.

“Patrick. Mikey’s here. You need to take our picture.” Without giving Patrick a chance to respond, Pete holds out his phone. “We haven’t had a picture taken together in forever. Well, not ones other people can see, anyway.”

“I don’t want to know,” Patrick says instantly, long experience showing he needs to shut this down before he gains yet more knowledge about Pete’s sex life, and why he specifically bought his bed. “And I don’t want to see, either.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing.“ Mikey smiles, small and secretive as he puts his arm around Pete, his fingers curled as if keeping Pete close.

“Yeah, I really do.” Which is the issue, while Patrick won’t be scarred by those kinds of pictures from Pete, he’s seen them already. Too many times, and really, sometimes you want to see a picture of a nice sunset and not Pete’s ass. “Ready?”

“Fucking ready,” Mikey says, Pete mouthing the words before he smiles, something smaller and less flashy, the kind of smile that’s genuine and real.

The photo taken, Patrick takes another and then tilts the screen toward Pete. “I supposed this is going up on Instagram now?”

Pete takes his phone, already typing as he says, “Yeah. Sweet little dudes forever. The world has to see.”

It’s a phrase that Patrick’s heard him say often, from that first hot summer tour until now. But, Patrick’s come to understand that to Pete and Mikey it means more than a gang, and in fact, is more of a code. One that can be said in public but mean more -- can mean everything, and for the first time he says, “Sweet Little Dudes, it means …..”

“I love you,” Pete cuts in, looking directly at Mikey.

“Forever,” Mikey adds.

And looking at them, Patrick believes it.


End file.
